From E. B. Baxter 8 July 1874
King’s College | London
July 8/74
Dear Sir
On p.41 of your work on The Expression of the Emotions, you state that “the iris is not known to ⟨be⟩ under the conscious control of the will in any animal.”
The following sentence which I came across the other day in Virchow’s Gedächtnissrede über Johannes Müller, seems to be of some interest in this connexion.1 It is the only instance of the kind I have ever seen alluded to and,—unless it be an example of carefully veiled irony—it should be a trustworthy one, since its subject was ⟨an⟩ eminent physiologist, personally ⟨fa⟩miliar to Professor Virchow.
“Denn mann weiss es ja, dass Müller es gelernt hatte, fast jeden einzelnen Muskel seiner Willkür zugänglich zu machen,—dass er die Iris, die Ohren, selbst die Gehörknöchelchen willkürlich bewegte.” (Gedächtnissrede, p: 45).2
I remain | Your obedient Servant | E B Baxter.
Footnotes
Summary
Sends quotation from R. C. Virchow which contravenes CD’s statement in Expression that there is no voluntary control of the iris.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9538
- From
- Evan Buchanan Baxter
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- King’s College, London
- Source of text
- DAR 160: 96
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9538,” accessed on 8 June 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9538.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22